It wasn't always pretty, but the Jackets won two games in a row to reclaim the top spot in the Metro after a disappointing 4-1 loss to kick off this week. What can we glean from this week's performances? Good question – here's what we learned.
Bread Breaking
Jarmo Kekalainen said it right over the summer: Artemi Panarin is a game-breaking offensive talent. He showed that this week.
The Jackets were down 2-0 on the road to the New Jersey Devils – who had just stomped them a few nights earlier – when Panarin took over. His playmaking ability spurred a five-goal run – with just one New Jersey goal in that span – to lead Columbus to a 5-3 win.
You’ve heard about that effort by now: Five assists – including a slick backhand pass to set up an Alexander Wennberg one-timer (!!) that snapped a slump for the power play – tying a franchise record for points and assists in a single game. The next night, he assisted on Josh Anderson’s goal just :30 into the game, the only goal the Jackets scored.
The Breadman gained notoriety in Chicago for his wicked shot from the circle on the power play, but that hasn’t been his M.O. so far in Columbus. With opponents focusing their defensive efforts on the dynamic Russian, he’s been able to find his teammates in space. He has more assists (19) than any of his teammates have total points (Josh Anderson has 18), and is clearly a huge reason why the 19-10-1 Jackets are sitting atop the division.
Leaning On Bob
Two nights, two games, two wins for Sergei Bobrovsky.
He certainly wasn’t perfect on Friday night, giving up three goals in 24 shots, but it was good enough for the win. He also didn’t play so great on Tuesday night, when he let in four goals in a loss to the Devils.
Despite struggling a bit this week (by Bob’s ridiculously high standards), Tortorella put him in net again on Saturday, for the second night in a row. Rather than resting his starter – which teams typically do on back-to-backs, given how demanding the position is – Torts kept Bob in for last night’s win over Arizona.
Bobrovsky was masterful. The Yotes put up 35 shots, and he kept all of them out. A vintage performance from the best goaltender on the planet. It’s a move that paid off – Bob did pitch a shutout, after all – but it’s still a fairly reckless gamble given what we know about starting a goalie on consecutive nights.
A 2013 article by Broad Street Hockey showed that there is a fairly significant drop in average save percentage when a goalie starts on a second consecutive night. Then again, this is Sergei Bobrovsky we’re talking about.
No disrespect to Joonas Korpisalo – an incredibly talented young goaltender in his own right – but if you have to pick between a rested Korpisalo or a tired Bobrovsky to win a game, it’s an easy decision.
In a way, the gamble actually looks a lot better given the Jackets’ offensive struggles last night. Josh Anderson scored 30 seconds into the game, and the cannon went silent after that. Had the Jackets scored, say, four or five goals, it would be a lot easier to criticize Tortorella’s decision.
Returning to Form
Last season, the Jackets’ second pair of Jack Johnson and David Savard – formerly the club's de facto first pair for most of the previous two years – emerged as one of the best shutdown pairings in the game. This year hasn’t gone so smoothly, as they were relegated to the third pairing before Ryan Murray’s injury.
The two veterans have struggled at times this year – they each played less than 18 minutes in the Jackets’ loss on Tuesday – but last night may have signaled a return to form.
Arizona is no offensive juggernaut, but in a game where the Jackets couldn’t buy a goal, they had to lean on Johnson and Savard to keep the Yotes off the board. The pair rose to the challenge. Johnson led the club in ice time – an impressive 24:49 – and Savard was third at 23:32. They each registered 4:24 of shorthanded ice time, too – showing that Tortorella was leaning on them to play critical minutes in their own zone.
Granted that the Jackets’ problems this year lie more in scoring production from star forwards, but it was a really good sign for a pairing that has taken a step back so far this year.
Zach Werenski and Seth Jones can’t play the whole game, obviously. Come playoff time, this second pairing have to replicate last night’s effort against far better teams.
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